Gillingham and Fleetwood players shown rare double red card for same tackle

Have you ever seen anything like this before? Two players were sent off for the same tackle during Monday’s League One clash between Gillingham and Fleetwood Town at Priestfield Stadium.

Gills striker Charlie Kelman and Fleetwood’s Paddy Lane were both shown straight red cards by referee James Linington in the 79th minute.

The two players both committed to slide tackles at the same time, resulting in a painful collision.

Linington ran over and assessed the damage before calling for medical staff to treat the injured duo.

While Lane was still receiving treatment on the ground, the referee flashed the red card in the Northern Ireland international’s direction.

He then marched over to Kelman and showed another red card to the American.

Watch the bizarre incident here:

Two red cards in one tackle, what on earth pic.twitter.com/jr9SYj0CRq

The double red card incident. #Gills pic.twitter.com/IrG2BneK8a

Play restarted with a Gillingham free-kick because Linington felt the first contact was made by Lane rather than Kelman.

That’s according to Gills boss Neil Harris, who said he’d never seen anything like it during his long career in professional football.

“I have to always be careful with what I say, because James Linington is a very good official in my opinion, and I don’t want to be too harsh on him, he did okay in the game,” Harris, whose Gillingham side are locked in a battle with Fleetwood to avoid relegation to League Two, was quoted saying by Kent Online.

“I have had the fortunate opportunity to see it in full speed during the game, and seen it from two different angles back (on video replay), unless there is more footage to show me that Charlie Kelman is out of control in a tackle, I don’t think it is a red card.

“We